The present invention relates generally to improvements in stringed instruments such as guitars and, more particularly, relates to a device mounted to the playing area of a guitar between the bridge and the base of the neck in order to improve the picking speed of a player.
Musical instruments provide entertainment, social interaction, self-expression, and a source of livelihood for many people. Stringed instruments are especially popular because of their active playability, tonal properties, and portability.
Guitars are a type of stringed instrument. Guitarists may play the guitar with their fingers or a guitar pick, or a combination of both. Playing the guitar with a pick offers certain advantages or desired results and effects, including crispness of string vibration, desired tones from different pick gauges and pick styles, clarity of sound, ease of play, and especially speed of play, amongst others.
Popular music, such as rock and jazz music, often encompasses runs, riffs, scales, and arpeggios where a guitarist aims to pick the strings fast, at a high frequency. This is known as fast picking or speed picking. During picking, however, the pick can be susceptible to sliding off of the strings downwards towards the guitar body such that it is lowered too deep beneath the strings in the playing area following contact with the strings. This is especially the case for newer guitar players who have more difficulty manually controlling pick depth. Thus, when using a pick, the pick can be moved to depths between the strings and guitar body (or any pickguard in the playing area) making it difficult for the guitarist to pick the same string or another string as quickly as he or she may desire. Speed picking is thus a difficult technique for even more advanced guitarists that takes hours, days and years or practice to self-control the depth of the pick below the strings.